Themistian asteroid The Themis family (''adj. Themistian''; ) is a family of carbonaceous asteroids located in the outer portion of the asteroid belt, at a mean distance of 3.13 AU from the Sun. It is one of the largest families with over 4700 known members, and cons ...
from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 29 September 1973, by Dutch astronomers Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, and
Tom Gehrels
Anton M.J. "Tom" Gehrels (February 21, 1925 – July 11, 2011) was a Dutch–American astronomer, Professor of Planetary Sciences, and Astronomer at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Biography
Youth and education
Gehrels was born at Haa ...
the
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...
, and assigned the provisional designation '. The likely C-type asteroid was named after medieval Muslim astronomer Averroës.
Orbit and classification
''Averroes'' is a core member of the Themis family (), a prominent family. Alternatively, a different HCM-analysis by Nesvorny found it to be a Background asteroid.
It orbits the Sun in the
1306
Year 1306 (Roman numerals, MCCCVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
England
* February 10 – Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn III of Badenoch ...